Celebrity Trending: Darling Delight: Champagne Kiss Cookies recipe inspired by the Blonde Bombshell!

For the Champagne Kiss cookie recipe scroll down or click here!

Bombshell

-noun

An explosive bomb.
One that is sensationally shocking, surprising, or amazing.
One who is very attractive.

This slang term has become synonymous with beauty, glamour and sex! Originally popularized by it's use to describe Jean Harlow (who starred in the 1933 film Bombshell), it's now commonly used to describe any voluptuous, female sex symbol. It's especially linked to blondes. The image of a "Blonde Bombshell"; roller-set hair, luscious red lipstick and artfully applied liquid liner, is inexplicably linked to Marilyn Monroe, whose timeless beauty inspired decades of glaMOUR!

Jean Harlow

Lana Turner

Marilyn Monroe

Mamie Van Doren

Jayne Mansfield

Diana Dors

Candy Darling

Madonna

Amanda Lepore

Eva Herzigova

Drew Barrymore

Nadja Auermann

Anna Nicole Smith

Gwen Stefani

Christina Aguilera

Scarlet Johanssen

Lady GaGa

I created this recipe as a birthday gift for one of my favorite blonde bombshells, my friend; the lovely Amanda Lepore! Her trademark succulent red lips, predilection for champagne and unapologetic glamour are legendary! Here is my latest Delight, inspired by the bombshell in us all:

Champagne Kiss Cookies

Bombshell blonde sugar cookie with starlet red champagne icing

Lip Smackin' Good!

Ingredients

* 3 cups all-purpose flour

* 1 teaspoon baking powder

* 1 teaspoon salt

* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

* 1 cup sugar

* 1 egg, at room temperature

* 1 tablespoon Half & Half, at room tempurature

* 1 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure vanilla extract

Icing

* 4 cups (1 box) confectioners sugar, sifted

* 3 tablespoons meringue powder

* 1/2 teaspoon Lorann Champagne Flavor

* 1/2 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure vanilla extract

* 1 tablespoon red food color

* 6 tablespoons warm water

Directions

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg, half & half, and vanilla and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with flour. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with flour, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 7 to 8 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack.

For the icing, beat all ingredients until peaks form (7-10) minutes at low speed with an electric mixer fitted with a whip attachment. To thin icing for dipping/pouring, add 1 tablespoon water per cup of icing and stir slowly. Add 1/2 teaspoon water at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Decorate as desired.

Makes 24 cookies.